That was what ended the fifteen years, if memory serves (it was a lot of teevee yesterday), Bobby reaching out to him to ask him to look out for Bela.

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I can't figure out how they're getting out of that room.

That's a damned good question. I also don't see them pledging fealty or playing along.

After putting my thinking cap on, here's a few thoughts as to how things could go.

• Castiel starts having difficulty processing the souls, and gets distracted long enough for the boys to skedaddle (plausible, but a wee bit anti-climactic)

• Someone or something else unknown zaps them away (been there, done that)

• It turns out that Jimmy is still in there somewhere, and distracts Castiel long enough for the boys to skedaddle (variation on the first idea, but with the nasty twist of Jimmy still being around)

• Death intervenes in some way (slightly out of left field, but only slightly)

• Gabriel isn't as dead as he seemed, and intervenes in some way (more out of left field)

• We know there are other deities out there - they're not happy with a new major player trying to take over the game

• Castiel, in an effort to show the boys that he's not a

bad deity, really he isn't, lets them go with a threat/warning

• Variation on the above, with a bit of the first thrown in: Cas has a short-lived crisis of conscience/return to his right mind, and tells the boys to run.

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Oooh, Death is a good possibility, although sort of unlikely. I guess Chuck could be one, too?

I would love to see the last happen, but I think that would be anticlimactic, too, really. I also think Cas has completely gone mad king, and I'm not sure what's left of his senses to get back.

The whole thing upsets me more than I thought it would. I love Castiel, and the scenes leading up to this where he was trying so hard to explain to Dean that he was doing what he thought was right, and that he was only asking for the same trust and faith he'd shown Dean are just heartbreaking now.

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I love Castiel, and the scenes leading up to this where he was trying so hard to explain to Dean that he was doing what he thought was right, and that he was only asking for the same trust and faith he'd shown Dean are just heartbreaking now.

Oh, yes. It's truly tragic in the classic sense of the term. It's heartbreaking, but the more I think about it, the more I like how everything played out.

I guess Chuck could be one, too?

Definitely.

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I still vote BJ. "Bow down and profess your love"? How much more clear could he be?

PLEASE don't bring back Gabriel.

But, no, I don't have a PG-13 solution.

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while the "difficulty processing" and the "crisis of conscience" might be anti-climatic, I've seen that done so many times for season openers, where they kinda save the final five minutes of the finale and tack it into the new season, and then they're moving on with a new story. Or it's done with a wink at how doom and gloom they were getting and the writer's sticking a needle in their own balloon of angst.

I like those two options because they leave the door open for redemption. Maybe a bit too obvious. Then again, I'm not a writer.

I don't want Cas to be absolutely unredeemable. I'd like, even if it doesn't come to fruition, to at least have that hope from time to time.

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I still vote BJ. "Bow down and profess your love"? How much more clear could he be?

I wonder how many of those fics got written that night.

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It's kind of freeing to not be tempted to read the new fic, what with the increase of non-con/dub-con tags.

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I still vote BJ. "Bow down and profess your love"? How much more clear could he be?

Well, he could have said "Sam, Bobby, a bow from the neck will suffice for you two."

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Random:

The best thing about Route 666 is Sam's smirky little smiles when he watches Dean and Cassie together.

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